Call and chat rules: what to write down

Rules for talking on the phone and in chat

in short

The document has three parts: what to establish before you talk about the product, how and when price gets quoted, and a list of things never to do. In our practice the biggest lift came from one rule in the second part: price is quoted in the opening messages, not after the eighth. Until price has been said out loud, the conversation circles and the deal cycle stretches for no reason.

Part 1. What to establish before the product

The customer's job in their own words, not the name of a product.
The deadline: when they need it.
Who else takes part in the decision.
What they have tried already, or what they are comparing against.
A budget range, if your product is priced in ranges.

A question about need and a question about specification are different things. «Which model do you want» is specification. «What is it for and how will you use it» is need. The second lets the rep make a recommendation, the first turns them into an order taker.

Part 2. Price

price is quoted in the opening messages, once the job is clear
if an exact price needs a calculation, a range gets quoted
after agreement, bank details go out immediately, two messages back to back, without waiting for a reply
a short summary goes with the details: lead times, delivery, what happens next

We reviewed a live thread where the customer already wanted to pay and got the bank details twenty minutes later. The rule «summary plus details, immediately» came out of that one conversation.

Part 3. What never to do

never leave a message unanswered longer than the standard
never write «we will send a quote» with no deadline attached
never end a conversation without agreeing a specific date
never promise what production or the warehouse has not confirmed
never argue with a customer about a competitor's price
never switch to a different language from the one the customer wrote in

How to check it

Once a week, take five conversations from each rep and read them against these three parts. The check takes half an hour and gives you more than any training session.

Questions people ask

Do I need a word-for-word script?

Word for word helps while a rep is new. After that a frame works better: what to establish, in what order, and how to finish.

What if the customer asks the price straight away?

Quote it. Answering a direct price question with «tell me about your project first» reads as evasion.